ATSS: Donald McAdams, “A Review of the Ellen White Revisionist History Since 1970”
7 May 2025 |
In 1919 at a Bible Conference in Washington DC a candid discussion took place that raised questions about the prophetic gift of Ellen White—notably the knowledge of many of her contemporaries that she borrowed from other sources.
The notes from that conference were typed up and tucked away, not to be seen by the church until 1979. Over the following decades a myth was created that Ellen White’s writings were given to her directly from God, with no intervention from anyone else.
In the 1970s, Adventist scholars began to study the writings of Ellen White more closely. Ronald L. Numbers’ Prophetess of Health created a crisis when he revealed that Ellen White’s health advice came directly from popular health reformers of the time. Other scholars—Walter Rea, Fred Veltman—came to similar conclusions about others of her writings. It became apparent that many of her writings had been copied—sometimes word for word—from other authors. The role of her secretaries in crafting her writings also began to be studied.
How has this scholarship affected how we think about Ellen White? Dr. Donald McAdams will take us through studies of Ellen White since 1970, and help us see how these revisionist histories have changed our understanding of who Ellen White is to the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
Teacher:
Donald McAdams graduated from Columbia Union College and Duke University and has published five books and numerous articles on history, management, and education policy. He has been a professor, Andrews University and the University of Houston; president, Southwestern Adventist College and the Texas Independent College Fund; and executive VP of the American Productivity & Quality Center and Texas Southern University. In 1993 he founded a management consultancy with clients in manufacturing, mining, travel, education, and healthcare. There he designed for the Veterans Administration a system-wide implementation of quality management for their nearly 200 hospitals. In 2001, after twelve years on the Houston school board, he founded the Center for Reform of School Systems to provide governance training for school boards.
Moderator:
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The class is intended to last about 2 hours, though the conversation often continues to 4 PM (Eastern time).
About our class:
- The AT Sabbath Seminar is intended to be a courteous forum.
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We look forward to getting acquainted with you!
YouTube channel:
You can see all of our previous ATSS recordings here.
Coming up:
- Don McAdams
- Charles Scriven
- Olive Hemmings
- Landon Schnabel
- Laurence Turner
- Kevin Burton
